Hell Is Gone, Yet We Still Burn
by Julymoon
Summary: It's been 5 years since the war ended and Katara wakes up to find herself in a strange prison with Firelord Zuko. Katara knows that something is very wrong, but she can't remember anything and Zuko refuses to give her any answers. Katara is determined to figure out what is going on in this strange place, and why Zuko has no authority here. Zutara/Slowburn, Rating may change!
1. Break My Bones, But Not My Spirit

**A/N: I have been reading Zutara fanfiction for the last decade, and I have written some here and there, but this will be my first published fanfiction, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated! **

**A little background on the story: It is written in the ATLA universe, but I'm playing around with the timeline a little bit. Its set about 5 years after the end of the war, so Zuko and Katara are about roughly 20 and 23 here. I won't give too much of the plot away, but basically this is my idea of how the timeline could have continued if the show hadn't ended, and of course if Zutara was given a real chance. I'm exploring the darker themes of war and how forces can still operate in the shadows, even though on the surface the war is over. There will be stronger war/romance themes, so the rating might change with time. And once again, this is a continuation of the ATLA universe, so while everything will be CANON from the original series, it's not gonna be CANON with Korra. All in all, I plan to update the story regularly, and I hope you guys enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, the rights belong to the amazing creators Mike and Bryan. **

The room is completely dark, the floor is hard and cold and Katara has no idea how long she had been lying there once she finally stirs. She sits up slowly, clutching her head as she does, her hairline is wet, and she realizes she must be bleeding.

"Wonderful," She mutters to herself, reaching around the dark looking for something to support herself while she tries to stand up. Realizing that there is nothing else in the room, she leans against the wall behind her and sighs.

"Don't bother," A voice from the corner of the room says. "We're in an empty, dirt cellar."

Katara squints trying to make out the figure that's sitting not 5 feet away from her, a soft glow begins to illuminate the room, revealing a set of startling amber eyes.

"Zuko," Katara breathes, relieved. "What happened? Where are we?"

Zuko appears defeated, the fire glowing from his palm reveals his face, its badly bruised and bloody. He shakes his head slowly not saying a word. Panic rises into Katara's chest and the reality of their situations begins to dawn on her.

"Zuko," She says, despair bubbling up behind her words. She leans forward onto her hands and knees, craws slowly through the dirt, and plops down in front of him, placing her hand on the side of his face. "Please, where are we? What happened…" Tears begin to swell behind her eyes "I…I can't remember anything…" The last part comes out as choke as the tears begin to make their way down her face.

Zuko sighs deeply and meets her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Katara." He says softly, removing her hand from his face and holding it in his own. "We fought really hard, but we didn't win, and…" He trails off, his voice cracking. He clears his throat and continues, "And I don't know what to do now, I don't know how to get out."

Katara places her hands on either side of temples and shakes her head. "I don't understand, Zuko." She says, growing more frustrated by his vague responses. "I don't remember anything. I don't know why we're in this godforsaken pit, I don't know why we're beat all to hell," She looks down at her body and realizes that she's practically naked. "I don't know where my clothes are, you have to give me some answers!"

Zuko frowns and looks at Katara's body for the first time since they'd entered the cellar. She was barefoot, and topless, her waist-length hair was a wreck, but for the moment it covered her chest from his gaze. The only clothing, she had left was her once-white wrap shorts, but they were now torn and brown, either from dirt or blood or both. He realized that he was in the same condition, barefoot and topless, with only his tattered red pants left on his body.

"Why did they take your clothes?" Zuko asks sharply. Katara can hear the anger growing in his voice, and its relieving to see a glimpse of the man that Katara knows, and not this broken, defeated person that's sitting in front of her. He sits up and holds his hand up close to her face, inspecting her body. She's badly beaten. He reaches out and touches her collarbone, and she winces, her hand shooting up to push his away.

"It's broken." Zuko says, solemnly. "Damnit!" He yells, pounding his fist against the hard ground. "I'm stuck here in this stupid cellar; I can't even stand up! They did who knows what to you, and I wasn't there! I couldn't even see you when they threw you down here, I had no idea…Damnit!"

"What do you mean you can't stand up?" Katara asks.

Zuko looks bitterly down at his left leg, and Katara follows his gaze. His leg is practically purple and swollen to twice its normal size. "It's broken," he spats. "Those bastards beat me with a metal pole before they threw me down here, otherwise we wouldn't be sitting her right now."

"Oh god," Katara says, searching frantically for something to help Zuko's leg.

"It's no use," He says miserably, "there's nothing down here."

Katara places her hands on Zuko's shin, he winces but doesn't pull away. She looks up at him, concern clearly spreading across her face. "We really need something for a splint, but it's a clean break, I'm gonna go ahead and set it." Zuko presses his lips together and nods his head; he knows what's coming. "This is really gonna hurt, take a deep breath for me." Katara says, "Here we go, one…two…three." Zuko yells in agony as Katara sets his leg. She then quickly bends water from a puddle beside them and wraps the cool water around his leg. "I can't heal this completely, its going to have to heal on its own. But this will help with the pain and swelling." She says softly.

"Thank you, Katara." His words are ragged from pain, but he attempts a small smile to show his appreciation. Katara returns his smile with a solemn one of her own, then places her hand on her collarbone.

"I've never set a bone on myself, before," She says with a humorless laugh. "But I suppose there's a first time for everything."

Her eyes meet Zuko's, and he can see the fear flash behind them momentarily before she quickly snaps her collarbone back into place. She grimaces, and places the cold water on herself, now. She swallows hard and wipes a single tear from the corner of her eye with her free hand. "That wasn't so bad." She says. "Now, we have to find a way out of here."

Zuko assess Katara for a moment. She's badly beaten, half-naked, and has no memory from at least the last twenty-four hours due to severe head trauma. Yet here she sits in-front of him, as powerful and determined as ever. He was ready to give in to his misery, but not Katara. She is the strongest person that he has ever known, and he'd be damned if he's gonna let those bastards get away with what they did to her.

"I think I have a plan," He says.


	2. Tides of Freedom

**A/N: I was going to make this chapter longer, but I decided I like it better leaving on a bit of a cliff-hanger. In the next chapter things will start picking up quickly, and we may or may not get a little more romance, I haven't decided yet. **

Zuko's idea was hairbrained at best, but it was the only option that they had. There was only one exit to the cellar, and it was roughly 10 feet above their heads. On any ordinary day, it wouldn't be that much of a challenge, but Zuko couldn't stand on his own with his leg, and Katara was too weak to perform the water bending move that was needed to get out, but she was gonna do it anyway. On the entrance to the cellar was a thick, steel grate, and they had no idea who would be waiting for them on the other side of it.

"How many people are here?" Katara asks, as she helps lift Zuko to his feet, ignoring the screaming pain in the right side of her chest and shoulder.

"Hundreds."

"Where are we?" She demands.

"It doesn't matter." The anger is growing now in Zuko, he's coming back to his old self, and Katara is glad for it, they need his determination if they're going to make it out of here alive.

Katara sighs, she knows she isn't going to get anymore out of him, at least not until they are out of here and in a safe place to talk. "Okay," she says, once Zuko is standing. "I need you to hold onto my left side, I can't hold you with my right arm, I'll use that one to bend."

Zuko pauses and looks at Katara, his brow deepening with concern. "Are you sure you can do this? I don't want to hurt you."

"Its fine, I'll be fine."

"If this is too much, I can stay behind, you can come back for me later."

Katara looks at Zuko like he had just said the stupidest thing in the world. "I'm not leaving you behind, are you crazy?"

Zuko can't help the small grin that plays across his lips, he knew he'd get that reaction, why did he even bother. To Katara, leaving _anyone _behind is out of the question. He nods his head, signaling that her surrenders, and Katara begins barking her orders.

"Okay, grab onto me, hold tight."

Zuko tries not to focus on the fact that Katara is topless when he wraps his arms around her shoulder and waist, that's another distraction for another time, right now they must get out of this cellar first. Katara, on the other hand, has seemingly forgotten her comprising state, and is instead focusing all her energy on gathering up the water from their muddy prison and swirling it around them.

She'd only performed this technique once before, when she carried Aang out of the crystal caverns after Azula's attack. She knew she could do it again, but this time she has a lot less available water to work with and a broken collarbone. Not to mention Zuko weighs more than double what Aang had at the time.

Once Katara had pulled every drop of water out of the cellar, they made their ascent to the top. Katara's saving grace was that they only needed to travel 10 feet up, Zuko was heavy and her arm was beginning to quiver at the pain. When they reached the top Zuko removed his arm from Katara's waist and pushed against the grate, but it didn't budge.

"Shit," he swore under his breath.

"What's wrong?"

"It's heavier than I expected." He tried again, pushing with all his might, but the grate wouldn't move. "Take us back down."

Katara looks at Zuko, fear replacing the determination that was on her face moments before. "Why?"

"We have to think of something else. Just take us down!"

She slowly brought them back down the cellar floor, letting the water splash down in the far corner of the room.

Zuko grabs the bridge of his nose in frustration, "That grate must weight at least 200 pounds, I won't be able to push it up from the bottom like that, especially not with one arm."

Katara doesn't respond, she just stands up and begins pulling all the water up above her head.

"What are you doing?" Zuko asks, confused at Katara's sudden determination.

"Getting us out of here."

When she finally has every drop of water suspended into an enormous bubble above her head, she turns to Zuko "You might want to duck." Before Zuko had time to respond Katara shot the water up at a terrifying speed, it crashed against the grate and with a loud groan the grate was lifted away, it soared into the air and was washed away by Katara's makeshift tidal wave. As soon as the grate was gone, Katara rushed to Zuko, pulled him to his feet with strength he didn't know she possessed, and brought the water around them and lifted them up through the cellar and onto the ground outside.

It was pitch black, and there wasn't anyone standing guard at the top, at least anyone who survived the wave that is.

"Which way do we go?" Katara asked, scanning their surroundings the best she could in the dark. The moon wasn't visible tonight, and that made her very uneasy.

"Umm," Zuko started, adjusting to the sudden shift in their situation. "We need to head north, to those trees over there" He said, pointing to the left, where a dim light was glowing through the woods.

"There's people over there, we can't go that way. We're in no condition to fight, you can barely even stand."

"Fine, then we'll head East and then circle up when its safe."

"Do you even have any idea where we are?"

Zuko looked at the sky, then at his feet, and finally to Katara. "No."

"Oh my god." Katara brought her hand up to her face and rubbed her left temple, causing Zuko to almost lose his balance. "What is going on Zuko?"

"No time to explain, we need to get a move on it, I think they heard us."

The glow from the woods was getting bigger, and Katara could hear voices now. They headed East, at a less than desirable pace. Speed wasn't on their side, so stealth was their number one priority. After an hour of trekking through the forest they came to a large wall, it spanned the entirety of the perimeter for as far as they could see.

"Well," Zuko says after a few moments. "We can either head north and follow the line of the wall, or we can try and climb over it and face whatever is on the other side."

Katara looked up at the wall, it was roughly twenty-feet tall, and built from solid stone blocks. Even with her water bending technique, it would be hard to scale over it. But if they followed it North, who knows where it would lead them or who they would encounter along the way.

"I think we should cross it."

Zuko looks at Katara and raises his eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

Katara nods, "I don't want to follow the fence, at least if we're on the other side we have that much more distance between us and whoever is trying to keep us here."

Zuko doesn't say anything for a moment. "Okay," he finally says. "We'll do whatever you think is best."

Katara gathered the water that she needed and prepared herself to create another waterspout. At least this time they could shoot right over it and wouldn't need to stop and push a grate open.

Dawn was beginning to break over the horizon and Katara wanted to be over that wall and away from this place before anyone could spot them. As soon as they reached the top of the wall, Katara immediately knew that she had made the wrong decision, but it was too late, and they were already falling, spiraling down to the surface below.


	3. Ashes

**A/N: Sorry this post took so long, I wrote half of it and then hit some major writers block. I'm trying to make my chapters longer, but I can't seem to reach the length I want. Anyway, here it is. Let me know if I should up the romance a little more or keep it more of a slow burn. Like I said, things are gonna start picking up from here on out. As always, any feedback is appreciated, hope you guys enjoy. **

For the first time, Katara became acutely aware of how naked she was. It wasn't like she was completely comfortable prancing around topless in front of Zuko, but it had been dark, and their situation didn't allow her a lot of time to sit and worry about it. But now the sun was rising, and she was standing in-front of more than 30 males, and they were looking at her like she'd just been served up on a platter.

Katara's hair was long, and it provided modesty for her chest, but Zuko knew that all these men knew as well as he did what was underneath that hair, and all it took was the brush of a hand or quick gust of wind to prove it. He knew what they were thinking just by their faces, and he wanted to burn their eyes out for it.

"Well, well, well." The first man stepped forward, he was young, probably Zuko's age, but the scars and marks on his face showed that he had lived a hard life. He walked towards them and stopped in-front of Katara. "Tei-shun, Hannsu, grab our burned friend here." Two burly men appeared behind them and one of them pulled Zuko by his hair, away from Katara's support, causing him to fall. He yelled in pain as his leg hit the ground, and before he could react, he was jerked up by his arms, each one held tightly behind his back by both men. When the young man was certain that Zuko couldn't get free, he turned his attention back to Katara who was preparing to spring into action. But before she could another man grabbed her, jerking both arms behind her back and popping her collar bone. Katara screamed and looked up at the young man in front of her. "What do you want" she spat.

The young man smiled down at her, revealing broken teeth. He brushed a few strands of hair behind her shoulder, revealing her broken collar bone and her left breast. "Well," he said, letting his gaze fall shamelessly on Katara's exposed breast. "I woke up this morning wanting to gain control of the west wing, but now I just want _you_."

"You fucking bastard," Zuko yells, "You get your hands off of her!" He was trying his best to break free from the two men's grip, but Katara knew it was futile. They were twice his size, and Zuko was terribly injured.

The young man looked at Zuko and feigned a concerned expression. "Oh no," he said. "I'm sorry, is she your girl?" He looks back at Katara and squeezes his fingers around either side of her breast, smushing the plump skin together and accentuating her nipple, allowing Zuko full view of the affect. "Well she's my girl now."

"I'm gonna kill you!" Zuko screams. "When I'm done with you, you'll be nothing but charred bones lying in the mud!"

"My, your boyfriend has quite the temper." He drags his finger in a circle around Katara's nipple, then up onto her collar bone, and applies pressure, she winces in pain. He leans in and whispers, "Don't worry baby, I know you're injured, we'll take nice and slow." Katara spits in his face, and wiggles free enough to connect her barefoot straight into his groin. He hits the ground with a yelp, and she spits on him again. "Don't you dare lay a finger on me!" She says, her voice frighteningly calm. "The only slow thing that I'm going to give you is a slow death."

Zuko raises his eyebrow in surprise but uses the moment to react. He takes a deep breath and exhales through his mouth, sending a string flames out and onto the crumpled young man on the ground in front of him. The man screams when he realizes that he's covered in fire and begins rolling around on the ground trying unsuccessfully to extinguish the flames. "Do something!" he yells at the others. The man holding Katara naively releases his grip on her, to reach for a water bucket, allowing her the perfect opportunity to quickly bend the oil from a nearby lantern and douse the man in it, now completely enveloping him in the flames. Zuko and Katara's eyes meet for a moment as an idea passes between them. Katara leaps up onto a table nearby and pulls the oil out of every lamp in her vicinity, raining it down onto the panicked men scurrying around her.

"She's a waterbender!" One of the men screams.

"No shit! Someone grab her!"

Zuko plants his left foot solidly on the ground, and with great pain, bends his left knee and lifts his broken shin off the ground, creating some stability. He takes another breath, and forcibly spins around, spewing fire onto the men holding him. They scream and fall back, trying frantically to wipe the oil and fire from their bodies. Zuko shoots fireballs so fast, Katara must quickly dodge to stay out of his line of fire. Within seconds all the men are covered in oil and flames, and the young man is lying motionless on the ground, his body burning rapidly into ash.

Katara quickly bends the water from a nearby barrel and slices the legs off the table. "Here," She shouts, slicing one of the legs into two thin, pieces. "Sit down, I'm going to splint your leg." Zuko hops towards her and takes a seat in a chair beside the now destroyed table. Katara runs towards the nearest tent and tears it down, dragging the fabric and the posts with her. She quickly straightens Zuko's leg and splints it, ripping and tying the tent fabric viciously as she goes. She then splits a tent post in half. "Use these as crutches," she says, pushing the pieces towards Zuko.

Zuko stands gingerly and watches as Katara runs back to the ruined tent and digs around for a moment before grabbing a men's tunic off the ground. He tells himself that he should turn away, but instead he watches appreciatively as Katara stretches her arms above her head and pulls the tunic down over her bare chest. When she looks back up, her face blushes slightly, she realizes that he was watching her, but she doesn't say anything.

"We need to go," Zuko says.

Katara looks at the scene around her, the men are all dead or dying, the camp is rapidly becoming covered in thick smoke, causing Katara to choke, it's the worst thing she has ever smelled.

"We still need to head North." Zuko doesn't give Katara the opportunity to choose the path they take this time, and now that Zuko is finally bandaged and can walk on his own, she realizes that the power between them has shifted.

Katara follows slowly behind Zuko as the sun rises proudly into the sky. She looks down at her body, the tunic is huge on her, and there is a large slit down the front, it's not modest but at least she isn't naked anymore. She runs her fingers over her left breast, and a shiver makes its way up her spine.

"Don't worry about him." Zuko calls over his shoulder. "He's nothing but a pile of fucking bones now."

Katara forces a chuckle, "Are you a mind reader now?"

"No. But your energy changes when you're upset, and I just put two and two together."

Katara knows that the guy was a dick, and Zuko incinerated him, just like he said he would. But she still couldn't shake the gross feeling she had, she just wanted to take a hot bath and wash everything away.

They'd been walking for hours in silence when the growl of Katara's stomach startled her out of her thoughts.

"I'm hungry, too." Zuko says solemnly.

Katara couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten, but she knew it must have been at least a day since she had.

"We should have gotten some food from that camp, that was stupid." Zuko muses. "I suppose we'll have to catch something."

Zuko caught a rabbit, skinned it, cooked it and now they were sitting around the embers of the dying fire, picking the meat apart.

"Now that you have the time," Katara says dryly through a mouthful of meat. "Why don't you tell me what's going on."

Zuko sighs and looks at his hands. "I was hoping your memory would come back before I had to explain everything to you." He pauses and grabs the bridge of his nose, trying to conjure up a way to explain the situation they found themselves in, the situation that was his fault.

"Well," he begins, "I…"

"Hey, they're over there!" A voice shouts from behind them, and Karata and Zuko look up to see 12 guards on ostrich-horses pounding through the woods after them.

"Shit." Zuko says, standing up awkwardly with his crutches. "We gotta go."

"You can't outrun them on crutches!" Katara yells, "What are we going to do?"

"Hide."


	4. Genesis

**A/N: Sorry it has taken me a while to update, but here it is. I know you guys want all the answers to where they are right now, but you'll be getting them soon. **

"So, you thought you could escape by running into the East wing, did you?" The same voice shouts again. "That was foolish of you, these miserable fools can't keep you from us, we have 3 times the advancement and manpower."

Katara could have sworn that they could hear her breathing. Her face was smushed against Zuko's bare chest, and she didn't know if that was what was making her breath so hard, or if it was the fact that they were hiding from a dozen armed guards, who clearly wanted to throw them back in a dungeon.

"You know hiding is futile, we will sniff you out, and your punishment will be much worse! If you show yourselves now you won't be imprisoned."

Katara couldn't see Zuko's face from this angle, but she felt him tense at their words. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Have it your way then," The man shouted. "Release the hounds."

They should have known that they couldn't hide, but it was the only choice they had. They could barely fight, and they certainly couldn't run. Now they we're in heavy chains, loaded into the back of a heavily reinforced cart.

"Where are you taking us?" Katara demands, slamming her shackled fist into grate that separated her from the man steering the cart.

"Your destiny," He laughs.

Katara slumps back against the wall, defeated. She notices that Zuko is staring at her, a look of remorse painted across his scarred and bloody face.

"What?" Katara asks tentatively.

Zuko sighs, and grabs the bridge of his nose, clanking his chains. "I should have just told you from the beginning."

"Told me what? I can't handle being in the dark like this anymore."

Zuko glances to the man infront of the cart, who seems to be listening in to their conversation. "I'll tell you when we have a little more privacy," He whispers.

Katara didn't remember when she fell asleep, or how long she had been out, but when she awoken, they were still in the cart. She groans and rubs her eyes, having forgotten her chains, she snaps back into reality when she realizes how heavy her wrists are. She glances to the corner of the cart, Zuko is sitting there, arms crossed. His face is blank and unreadable, he's staring straight forward, lost deep in thought. She sighs, she really wanted to beg him for answers, but she knew it was futile at this time. But then a thought occurred to her, Zuko said she'd lost her memories. That means, that somewhere deep in her subconscious she knew what was going on and where they were, she just couldn't access it. Katara sat up straight and closed her eyes, if Zuko wouldn't give her the answers she would figure them out for herself.

She knew from spending so much time around Aang, that in order to access your deeper self, you must start with meditation. She instinctively crosses her legs and lets her wrists rest on her knees, assuming the correct position. She had seen him in the pose countless times over, she didn't really know what she was doing, but she knew she could figure it out. She took deep calming breaths, and began to imagine a sparkling pool of water, light pouring in, reflecting off it at every direction. She focused harder and harder on the ripples and sparkles in the water, allowing herself to drift into a space between her mind and reality.

Once in this state, she imagined herself diving into the water, going deeper and deeper, the light fading quickly behind her. The deeper she went she began to hear voices, at first, they seemed muffled and far away, like someone talking underwater, but as she dove deeper, they became more clear. She didn't recognize the voices, it was two men, and they seemed hostile. The water became very cold, and Katara began to feel like the darkness was trying to swallow her, when she tried to swim back to the surface, she discovered that she was unable to move. She was stuck there, and the voices became louder and louder.

"What are you crazy? Do you know who this is?"

"They were intruders sir, I…I followed the procedure."

"This is the fucking Firelord you idiot! What are we supposed to do now?"

"We can throw them in the well on the other side of base, no one will find them there!"

Katara was then pushed deeper into the water by an invisible force. A scene began to play out around her, she could see Zuko, he was being beaten by two men with a bat. He was unconscious, lying on a cell floor, and she saw them break his leg and keep beating him. She could hear screaming, and she realized that it was her own voice, she lived this moment, these were her memories.

Once again, she was forcefully pulled under the water and another scene began to play. She was watching through her own eyes as a man crawled on top of her body. He seemed familiar, like she knew him, but she didn't remember how. She heard herself screaming and her body was thrashing, but she must have been tied down to something.

The young man grinned, displaying sparkling teeth. "Don't worry Katara, it's me. You know you want this; you've wanted this for a long time." He nuzzles his face into her neck, and she can feel his hot breath as he begins to kiss her. He then reaches his hands to her chest, and with a quick movement he rips her shirt open and grabs her breasts in his hands.

"No! Stop!" She can hear herself crying, and she feels hots tears run down her face and neck.

She's pulled down again and this time her feet hit the sandy bottom, she can feel pressure all around her and it's making her head throb. The last scene unfolds around her, she's sitting on the front steps of an Inn, Zuko is sitting across from her. She holds her hand up in front of her eyes to block the sun, and she sees Zuko hand her a scroll.

"We have to do something about this," he says. "This is the reason behind all the disappearances."

Katara looks at the scroll, there is a strange insignia at the top, one she didn't recognize. It was a serpent wrapping around globe, and inside the globe looked like a combination of all the element symbols morphed into one.

"Who are they?" Katara hears herself ask.

"They call themselves Genesis." Zuko responds.

"Get up bitch!"

Katara is ripped from her mind and she's forcefully jerked up by the chains around her wrists from the floor of the cart. The man that was steering has now gathered up all her chains and pulls her out onto the ground. She looks up and sees that Zuko is being held the same way, with two burly men on either side of him. The man jerks Katara's chains again, pulling her shakily to her feet.

"Come on," He says tugging her forward. "The warden has to decide what to do with you two."

The warden was an ugly man. Katara could see the cruelty in his eyes. He eyed them both when they were pulled into the room, he eyed Katara especially long.

"And who might these two be?" He asks, his voice deep and crackly.

"Sir," The cart man speaks up. "They were found trying to escape into the Eastern Wing, they killed a whole sector of guards there. They are especially powerful we believe."

"And what are their origins?"

"He's a firebender." Cart man says, "They are together, we believe she must be Fire Nation as well."

The warden approaches Katara. "Awful blue eyes for Fire Nation." He says sneering down at her. "Are you a firebender my dear?" He asks.

"She's not a bender." Zuko interjects.

"Well then." The warden continues, a smiling spreading across his face. "That makes her a lot less useful, that's just fine with me."

Katara glances at Zuko, wondering what angle he's planning. He just looks back at her with determination burning in his amber eyes.

"Take him to the plant." The warden says motioning at Zuko. "I'll keep her here with me."

"No!" Zuko shouts as they forcibly try to pull him out of the room, Katara begins to take a waterbending stance, but Zuko shakes his head at her, warning her against it. Instead she kicks the shin of the Cart man behind her, causing him to loosen his grip. She pulls away from him and swiftly strikes him across the throat making him drop to his knees and gasp for breath. Zuko attempts to use his fire breathing, but this time he's stopped by the warden who sends a blow to his jaw with a sickening crack. Zuko yells in agony, and the guards holding him take the opportunity to drag him out of the room. Katara begins to run after him but she is stopped when the warden grabs her hair and jerks her roughly back, making her fall from the impact. She grimly looks down at the chains around her wrists and knows that he could have just as easily pulled those. _He's cruel_, she thinks.

"Get up!" The warden snaps, losing his easy-going demeanor from before. He grasps Katara buy the collar of her tunic, causing it to rip, and pulls her up. She stares down miserably at her shirt, realizing that once again she's becoming more and more exposed.

"Look at me." The warden says, grabbing Katara's chin roughly and forcing her to make eye contact with him. She tries to pull away, but he tightens his grip around her arm and chin. "I don't know where you think you are." He begins, his voice now a threating whisper. "But I'm in control around here. The only reason that I haven't thrown a non-bender like you in the quarry is because you're the most beautiful thing to walk through here." He stops to eye Katara up and down, making her queasy. "Now," He continues. "You better thank your lucky spirits that I'm a man who appreciates beautiful things." He pulls her roughly into a small back room and locks the door behind them. Katara notices with horror that the only thing in the room is a small table with a lamp and a bed.

"Undress!" The warden demands as he begins unbuttoning his shirt.

Katara balks at him. She mentally curses, how on earth does she keep getting herself into these situations, did Zuko bring them to the valley of the rapists? Her first instinct is to pull the oil from the lamp and then crash it into him, like they did in the camp. But she remembers that Zuko doesn't want her to bend, and although she doesn't know why, she knows that he has more information on this place than she does right now.

_It won't matter if the only person I use waterbending on is dead_, she thinks smugly. Before she has time to make her decision, the warden is on top of her.

"I said undress!" He screams it this time, and Katara decides that he must be emotionally unstable. He grabs her breasts over her tunic and forces her back onto the bed. She reaches up with her good arm and hits him as hard as she can across his face. He pulls back for a moment, stunned. She uses the moment to bring her knee up and connect it with his groin, hard. The warden crumbles to the floor, his face an unnatural shade of red. "You bitch! You're gonna regret this! I'm gonna take you so hard, you're going to be screaming for mercy!"

"You must not know me very well." Katara says glaring down at him. "I don't scream for mercy." She picks up the lamp with her left arm. "Oh, and one more thing. I don't give it too easily, either." With a swift throw, the lamp crashes down in front of the warden, and the flames envelop him. He screams in agony, yelling every profanity imaginable at Katara, but she pays him no attention, instead she swiftly runs for the door.

_Not bad for a non-bender_, she thinks to herself as she leaves the burning man behind.


	5. Lost Time

**A/N: This chapter is a little bit shorter again, but I wanted to leave it off here. This story is really starting to take form in my head and the writers block is gone, so hopefully I'll be able to get chapters out much quicker from here on out. Thanks for all the comments! I know it's been kinda rough to read these last few chapters, but I really think you guys will like where this story is gonna be going from here! **

Katara almost made it out of the building before being spotted by another _soldier_? Guard? She wasn't sure exactly what they were. He obviously wasn't a bender, but he used a sword, thrashing it wildly at Katara. Out of habit she almost used her bending but caught herself before her ability was revealed. She had no weapons, and she couldn't keep dodging his attacks. In a moment of pure instinct, she connects her foot with the man's wrist, causing him to stop mid-swing, drop the sword, and grasp his wrist screaming in pain. Katara realizes in a flash that she's broken his wrist, the force of her kick much stronger than she realized. Quickly, before he has a chance to adjust to the sudden pain, she kicks him swiftly in his kidney, causing him to drop to his knees. She takes the opportunity to rush behind him and wrap the chains on her wrists around his neck. He immediately begins writhing and clawing at his neck, trying desperately to pull Katara's chains from his neck, but Katara has the advantage, and her grip isn't wavering.

Moments pass and she wonders how long a person can go without breathing, hoping that another guard doesn't appear before she can make her escape. Finally, with one last convulsion the man slumps to the ground. She untangles her chains from his neck, and without a second thought dashes down the hall and out the side door. _Did he just pass out? Did I kill him? _She didn't really know what marked the difference between the two, but, at the moment it didn't really matter, all that mattered was finding Zuko and escaping.

She didn't know what she was even looking for, or what the right direction was. The building was isolated, in the middle of the forest. Was Zuko still in the building? Should she risk going back inside? There was no one outside, no guards around the perimeter, there were no voices, no shouting, nothing. Has no one realized she escaped, was no one here? Katara stood not twenty feet away from the door she just exited, with no idea what to do. _They said they were taking him to the 'plant.' He shouldn't still be here; this obviously isn't a place they keep prisoners. _

Katara shudders thinking about what intentions the warden had keeping her here in this weird, secluded place. She becomes aware of a thick, strong smell, and realizes that the building is beginning to go up in flames. The fire she set on the warden was never put out, there obviously wasn't anyone here. She doesn't hesitate any longer, she runs into the forest, not sure what direction she is headed. Even if there was no one here now, once the building is engulfed in flames, people will see the smoke and come to figure out what happened.

_Think Katara, think! _She commands herself. Where would Zuko be? She tries to remember and piece together all the conversations she's heard between these weird men, and ones from her strange memories.

_Things are obviously broken down into wings. _She thinks, remembering the different 'soldiers' talk about the 'East' and 'West' wings. The solider Zuko burned said that he wanted to 'gain control' of the 'West wing,' were the wings at odds? Were they not working for the same group? Or was this man just a rouge? But then, the solider that captured them in the forest said they 'couldn't escape in the East wing' and that 'They were more advanced and powerful.' There were also solid walls dividing the territories. Katara's head spun trying to make sense of it all. _What is this strange place?_

Katara didn't know how long she had been walking when she stumbles upon another wall. She had walked all through the night, too scared and desperate to stop. The forest had ended a long time ago, and she had been walking in the hot sun for hours. This wall was much smaller than the one she and Zuko encountered before, and much less solidly constructed. It was only about six feet high and built from mismatched stones stacked and held together with mortar. She pauses for a moment, remembering what happened last time she decided to cross one of these walls. She notices a small tree to her left, the long branches reaching over the top of the fence, and she decides to climb it and see what's on the other side.

Whatever she had thought would be on the other side of the wall, the reality was beyond anything that she could have imagined. The wall separated the long stretch of land she had been trekking from a deep valley full of tall grass and wildflowers, and far in the distance she could see the tops of buildings.

"A village!" She says to herself, her weary body suddenly flooding with relief. She quickly climbs down onto the top of the wall and jumps onto the ground on the other side. Before she has time to think about it, she finds herself running head-long down the hill leading into the valley.

_Aren't I looking for Zuko? _She thinks to herself, not stopping her pace down the hill.

_Maybe he's in the village. Maybe that's where the plant is._

_But wouldn't that mean the village is bad? Certainly not. _

_But then where is Zuko?_

The thoughts made Katara's head hurt more than it already did. She was so thirsty and so tired, and she wanted desperately to drink some water.

"I can't bend." She says to herself.

_But there's no one around, no one will see. _

Katara stops suddenly, stumbling slightly down the hill from the momentum. She drops to the ground on her butt and drops her head into her hands. She is so hot and so thirsty and whole world seems to be existing in this hazy, humid mist.

"We must be in the Firenation." She says. "I've never been so hot in my life."

She takes deep breaths, trying to cool herself down under the sweltering heat. _I can bend here. _She thinks. _Why haven't I been bending?_

She slowly lifts her head up and focuses on a patch of wildflowers to her right, she raises her hand and gently pulls the water from the plants, leaving them black and wilted on the ground. She balls the water up and begins to gulp it but decides she must drink slowly, or she might become sick.

While sipping the cool water, Katara's mind begins to clear a little and she tries to assess her situation. When she escaped the building, the sun had been setting, and now she was at least in the middle of another day, that means Zuko as been gone for almost 24 hours. She lost track of time somewhere between the end of the forest and this valley, somewhere in the long stretch of land between. She hadn't eaten or drank anything, and she didn't really remember thinking about anything, the wall had snapped her out of her trance.

"What is wrong with me?" She asks herself. "Why do I feel so weird and hazy?"

_Could it be the heat? Is that why I feel so sick? Can being hot make you feel like this?_

Katara didn't have much experience with extreme heat. She'd been in the Firenation in the summer before, but never experienced this.

_Well most of the time I was on Appa. _She thinks dryly. _I didn't walk for miles a day. _

She decides that even if Zuko isn't there, she should continue on to the village, she needs food and rest, and there was probably someone there who could help her find Zuko, someone needed to be informed about what was happening at this weird place, anyway.

Before standing, she uses the rest of her water to cool her head and face, and then concentrates it on her collarbone, working on healing the bruising that has only been worsening from abuse since Zuko set it. When she feels more like herself, she stands and continues her descent down into the valley.

Zuko glares at the man on the other end of the table.

"You're only making this harder for yourself." The man says, matching Zuko's glare with amber eyes of his own. "You think I care that you are the Firelord? I will snap your neck in a second, in fact, having you out of the way just makes things easier for me in the long run."

"You won't get away with this." Zuko deadpans.

The man laughs at this, "Who's gonna stop me, the Avatar? He has no idea this place even exists! Good job informing your friends and advisors about threats, _Firelord!" _The man spats the last word. "No one is coming for you here, if you value your life and the life of your Watertribe whore, you'll tell me how you found that scroll!"


	6. Ainslin

**A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been a while, with everything going on in the world lately I've been a little depressed and kinda neglected a lot of things I was working on, including this fic. But, when Netflix released ATLA I binge watched the series again (for probably the 20****th**** time) and I've become inspired to continue this fic, and since it is Zutara week, I figured now would be the perfect time! **

By the time Katara made it to the village, the sun was already setting. _A whole day wasted; _she thinks glumly. _Hopefully someone in this village is kind enough to offer me some food and shelter, and if I'm lucky, help me find Zuko. _

The village was oddly constructed Katara realized as she stepped through its entrance at the end of the valley – nothing more than a shoddy wooden alter, with a sign hanging from it – "Those who enter here, forget where they came from," it read.

_Weird. _

Every house looked the same, and their construction was no better than the pathetic entry posts, no house stood up completely straight, and most of the walls and roofs had holes in them, and beyond that there was not a single person out in the streets, and it was barely sundown. All the houses had lights coming from the windows, but there was no sounds or noises anywhere, it was dead silent.

_Great, I don't want to knock on someone's door and ask to come inside. _She thinks to herself, _that would be ridiculously rude and suspicious. _

"Hey you!" Someone shouts behind her, "What are you doing out past curfew?"

She turns to see a young man approaching behind her, he's dressed in a uniform and has a sword attached to his hip.

"Hopefully you can help me!" Katara says, walking towards the young man, trying her best to appear like a damsel in distress – though with her pathetic appearance at the moment, she probably looks more like something that escaped from the underworld, she thinks.

"Miss," The man says, stopping in front of her, he's younger than she thought, probably around Sokka or Zuko's age, and he's quite handsome. He continues, "I'm going to have to ask you to return back to your home, you know civilians can't be out after curfew, working hours start at sunrise."

Katara opens her mouth to respond, then closes it abruptly when she notices a strange insignia on the left pocket of the man's shirt.

_I've seen that symbol before, _she's thinks. _But where? I can't remember. _

"I was hoping you could help," She begins, trying her best to sound innocent. "I was out picking flowers in the field, when I tripped, I must have fallen a long way because when I came too, I noticed that my clothing was ripped, and I was bleeding. I don't remember where I'm supposed to be."

"Okay miss, calm down." The man says, "I should make a note that you were out picking flowers during working hours, but I suppose I will let that one slide tonight. Now, who are your housemates, what are their names?"

_I need to lay this on thick, this guy is obviously some kind of soldier, and by the way he talks, it doesn't seem like this village is in good hands right now. _"I don't remember!" Katara wails, tears spilling down her cheeks now, "I don't even remember my own name!"

"Okay miss," The soldier says, resting his hands on her shoulder. "It seems like you must have hit your head pretty hard on your fall. I'm going to bring you back to my station tonight, you can get washed up and I'll take a look at that bruising. Then we'll get you situated back to your post tomorrow morning."

_Here I go again, getting scooped up by strange men. I really hope this man is as nice as he seems, but I have to play this charade right, or he'll know I'm faking. _

"Oh! Thank you so much, sir!" Katara exclaims, making more tears fall, she lunges forward and embraces the young soldier, "You are so kind!"

"Okay, okay," The man says, blushing and gently pulling away from Katara. "You can call me Ainslin, but only for tonight." He looks at Katara pointedly, then smiles softly. "Come on, it's this way," he places his hand on Katara back and gently leads her down the dirt path through the small village.

Ainslin's 'station,' as he called it, was a small house built in a young bamboo forest behind the village, it seems like the bamboo was planted as almost a shielding wall between the small building and the rest of the village. There was a plaque on a post in front of his house that read "Commader-in-Chief, Ainslin - Civilian Branch."

_Hmm, he's seems pretty young to be a commander-in-chief, maybe he's the son of someone important. _

The inside of the house was furnished nice, but modestly. There was a large open space that served as a kitchen, living and bedroom area, a small closet and a small bathroom. The oddest thing about the house was its décor, nothing pointed to it as being from any one nation, there were things that Katara recognized from all the nations. There was a Firenation flag on the wall above the bed, a green blanket with an unmistakable Earth Kingdom pattern, on the table in the kitchen there was a kettle and cups that were from the Water Tribe, and to Katara's surprise there was even a staff like Aang's old one displayed on the wall. There were other things too, things Katara didn't recognize, like pottery made with all the nations symbols on it, and a rug weaved with an unusual pattern, mixing all the colors of every nation.

_Maybe he's well-travelled. We all have things from the different nations as well, I suppose it isn't that far-fetched that someone else would too. Though, I'm curious to know how he got his hands on that staff… _

"Miss," Ainslin says, pulling Katara from her thoughts. "I'm afraid this is all I have to offer, they're big, but I hope they work." He extends his arms towards her, in them is a nicely folded brown tunic and matching pants, a man's sleeping outfit undoubtedly.

Katara gingerly takes the clothes from the mans hands and smiles softly at him, noticing for the first time that his eyes are a striking amber. "Thank you, they are perfect," She says softly.

"You are free to wash up in the bathroom," Ainslin continues, "And then I'll take a look at those bruises, your head looks bad, but really it's your collarbone that's concerning me." He frowns, and reaches out to Katara, gently running his fingertips along her collarbone "If something like that heals the wrong way, it will never be the same again."

Katara shivers under his touch, it's the first time that she's been touched gently by anyone since coming to this strange place.

"I…I think I'm going to wash up now," Katara stammers, backing away from the young man and heading into the bathroom.

When Katara caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she almost didn't recognize the person staring back at her. She knew that she must look bad, but how bad she truly looked shocked her. Hair was a matted mess, she was skinny from not eating, and her face was covered in bruises, bruises she didn't remember getting. A large, dark sport was formed on the left side of her forehead, her right eye and the side of her nose was purple and green – an old bruise, parts of her chest and shoulder, her collarbone and even up her neck was turning black and purple. Not to mention she was filthy, covered in blood and dirt and practically naked.

It took Katara a long time to wash up, and when she found a comb under the wash-basin cabinet, it took her even longer to work out the tangles in her hair. When she finally emerged, fresh and clean for the first time she since could remember, Ainslin was already in bed, only a dim lantern burning in the corner of the room.

_This is my opportunity to get out of here. If I can make it out the front door, I can snoop around this village tonight and figure out what's really going on here. Ainslin is obviously in charge here, and he's not going _to_ help me find Zuko, but maybe I can find a villager who will. _

As Katara slowly begins to make her way to the front door, Ainslin turns over in bed and meets her eyes. "You're finished." He says softly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "That took a while."

_Shit. So close. _

"Yes, thank you. I feel so much better now." Katara says, awkwardly running her hands down the sides of her hips, feeling the soft clothing.

"Good." They young man says, shaking his head absentmindedly. "I made you some tea, its in the pot there, and some noodles and beef, I figured you'd be hungry."

He swiftly swings his legs out of the bed and stands up, facing Katara. He's wearing a pair of loose sleeping pants and nothing else, revealing deep muscles across his abdomen, chest and arms.

Katara blushes, and quickly turns away towards the table. "Thank you, I am." She says.

_He must train very hard, looking like that. _Katara's mind flashes to an image of Zuko training Aang at the Western Air Temple, his abdominal muscles contracting through his breathing with each exercise, the sweat running down his body when he would stop and look at Katara when she brought him and Aang water on particularly grueling days.

Karata's blush deepens and she presses her hand to her face. _Get it together Katara, why are you even thinking about that right now? And why are you letting this strange man fluster you so? _

Ainslin walks up behind Katara and places his hands on her shoulders, "Go ahead and eat, then I'll look at your wounds."

Katara did eat, and then ate seconds, and when the seconds were gone, Ainslin made more, and she ate all of that as well. He applied an herb to her wounds, hovering over her, gently massaging the salve into her chest, neck, shoulders, and face, biting his bottom lip in concentration, his steady breath tickling her nose as he worked.

Katara took to opportunity to focus on anything but the man in front of her, instead she studied the odd tattoos that wrapped around his upper arms and met across his chest. Starting at his elbows and wrapping up his arms and over his shoulders were two snakes, one on each arm. They then slivered down his collarbone and met at the center of his chest, the image of a globe, being supported by each of their heads as they faced each other, one head on each of his pectoral muscles. The globe matched the insignia on his uniform, an image that held all of the symbols of the Four Nations but meshed into one strange insignia.

"I like your tattoo," Katara says softly when the Ainslin finishes applying the salve to her body.

The young man looks down at his chest, then smiles at Katara. "This part is probably your favorite though, huh?" He says pointing to the symbol in the left upper portion of the globe, the symbol that matches the Water Tribe insignia.

Katara's eyebrows shoot up and she opens her mouth to respond, but before she can say anything, Ainslin hooks his index finger under her chin and tilts her face up to meet his eyes. "It's okay, I know because of your eyes," He says, then pauses, a soft blush creeping across his cheeks, "And your skin. Besides," he continues. "The war is over, just because you're in the Firenation doesn't mean you have to hide your identity."

Katara's brow furrows, _so I am in the Firenation. But what part? Who is this man, and if he's not one of Zuko's soldiers, then who is he? _

"You really don't remember anything, do you?" Ainslin says, his voice solemn.

Katara shakes her head, she doesn't remember anything, that's not a lie. What he doesn't know is, her memory loss has nothing to do with this village, but what Ainslin doesn't know, won't hurt him.

"Well, for right now I suppose that's all the better." He says softly, grabbing her hand in his own and pulling her up from her seat at the table. "It's time to sleep now, we can work out the rest in the morning."

He leads Katara over to his bed, and motions for her to slide in, when she does, he slides in behind her, leaving her between the wall and himself.

For a moment Katara panics, but Ainslin doesn't reach for her. Instead, he rolls onto his side to face her, tucking his arm up and resting his head on it. "Goodnight, Miss Water Tribe." He says before closing his eyes.

Zuko knew roughly what part of the Firenation he was in, but he didn't know the terrain enough to decipher exactly where he was, or how long it would take to get back to the valley he and Katara had started in, 3 weeks prior.

He stretches his leg out under the table, it's healing well, much better than he's letting on, he knows Katara's healing powers have accelerated it far beyond what the normal healing time would have taken. He smiles to himself; she is so much more powerful than she realizes, her healing has saved his butt, and his life on more than a few occasions. He frowns then, thinking of Katara and what kind of situation she's in. He knows that the prison tower that they were first taken too was burned down, and the Warden and many of the guards were killed in that fire. He overheard the two guards outside of his cell talking about it, and he also heard that the "pretty girl" escaped.

Zuko grips the edge of his table, his knuckles turning white as he recalls the conversation he heard between the guards.

"She was beat all to hell, but damn, she was still gorgeous."

"If it was me, and I found her wandering the perimeter all alone, hell if I'd tell anyone. At that point, I'd quit this stupid place and take that angel home and make her my wife, she'd probably be eternally grateful that I freed her from this place and do anything I like."

Snickering. "Yeah, I can think of more than a few things I'd like her to do to me."

Zuko flips the table then, his frustration at a boiling point. He'd like to do a few things to those guards for talking about Katara that way, at least the Warden burned for his indiscretions.

Zuko groans and grabs the bridge of his nose, if he had known that bringing Katara to this place was gonna be so dangerous for her, he would have never even considered it. It figures that she could spend a whole year, gallivanting across the world with a monk and her brother and have no issues, but as soon as she goes on another stealth mission with him, every man in a 5-mile radius wants to get in her pants.

"It's those stupid eyes" Zuko grumbles, "Why do they have to be so blue, and so innocent? It makes her look like a lost, baby turtleduck or something."

"She really is quite beautiful." A man says as he enters the room, eyeing the flipped table on the floor at Zuko's feet. "You know, the table was there for your comfort, but if you insist on this meeting being so unprofessional, I suppose I could be a gracious host and give you what you wish." With a swift kick, the man knocks the chair out from under Zuko, and he lands on the floor with a hard thud. Zuko stands and attempts to lunge for the man but he's pulled back down by the metal cuff attached to his good ankle, chaining him to the floor.

"I understand you must be very sexually frustrated right now, being away from your whore for so long. But I can assure you, once she is found I will take good care of her, I'll even let you watch."

"You'll burn." Zuko growls, standing to his feet.

"I see your leg is doing better, it would be a shame if something were to inhibit its recovery." The man attempts another kick towards Zuko, this time aimed at his leg, But Zuko blocks him quickly, slamming the man to the ground with a quick shove to his chest.

"You...you…filthy, inbred…pathetic," The man sputters, standing to his feet. "The royal family is a joke," The man shouts in Zuko's face. "And that makes you worse than a joke, _Firelord._ That makes you the laughing-stock of an entire nation!"

"That's an interesting thought," Zuko says wryly, "Unfortunately, I'm not amused."

The man attempts another blow, this time to Zuko's face, which Zuko deflects easily, and then shoves the man back down to the floor.

"You've been doing all this talking, and all this demanding." Zuko says, cutting off the man before he can speak, his voice low and warning. "But now," he continues, stepping on the man's hand with his good foot, pinning him to the ground in pain. "Now it's my turn. I'm going to speak, and you're going to listen."


	7. Reunion

**A/N: Hey guys, in this chapter I'm going to be switching POV's a little bit, up until now I've written the story in 3****rd**** person, but I think I will be switching between Zuko and Katara's point of view for a little while, at least in this chapter. This chapter is going to be long, and there will be a little bit of sexual content towards the beginning, so heads up. But I'm trying to get the story to a point where I feel like I can start digging deeper into the plot, anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! **

"_Katara! Katara!" _

_I hear someone screaming my name, but I can't make out the voice, it's like I'm underwater and the voice is coming from somewhere in the world up above me. _

"_Katara!" _

_The sound breaks through now, becoming clearer…It's Zuko! _

"_Zuko!" I try to shout, but it's like there's something is caught in my throat, muffling my voice. I try to reach my hands up to my throat, but I can't, they're stuck at my sides. I feel panic beginning to rise in my chest, I know that I'm in a bad situation, but I can't get my bearings, I have no idea what's happening. _

_Zuko is still screaming my name, but my head hurts so bad, every time he calls out my name it sends a splitting pain through my head. _

"_It's okay Katara," I hear a voice beside me say softly. "You're safe with me." _

_I recognize the voice, but I can't place who it belongs too. I try to turn my head in the direction of the voice, but it hurts too badly to raise my head up off the…Floor? Am I lying on the floor? _

_I hear shuffling, and the person bends down above me, their head hovering a foot above mine. I am on the floor…and its moving. The person, a young man, above me smiles brightly, I recognize his smile and his dark eyes, how do I know him? _

_He begins to crawl on top of me, and I try to push him off, but its no use, I can't move. _

"_Don't worry Katara, It's me." The young man says as he nuzzles his face into my neck and begins kissing it. "You know you want this; you've wanted this for a long time." He reaches his hands up to my chest and begins cupping my breasts through my shirt. _

"_No, stop!" I try to say, I can feel tears falling down my cheeks. I don't understand what is happening, where am I? Who is this man? _

_He straddles my hips, swiftly pulls my shirt open, and grabs my breasts again. _

"_It's okay Katara, it's me." He says, his voice is husky and so familiar…But I can't concentrate, I feel myself shaking and I can't breathe well, there is definitely something wrong with my throat. _

"_Who are you?' I cry._

_He stops then, and drops his hands to his sides, his face darkening with concern. His face is so handsome…I feel so many emotions looking at him, but I don't understand any of them._

"_You really don't remember?" He asks softly. _

_I cry harder and shake my head, not attempting to try and speak again. _

_He gently reaches his hand to my head, and when he pulls his fingers back, they're covered in blood…my blood. _

"_You must have hit your head really hard…" He slides off me then and sits down cross-legged beside my head. Before I realize what's happening, he pulls out a knife and slices the ropes that must have been biding my arms to my sides. I try to sit up, but the pain in my head is unbearable. _

"_Don't try to move." The man says softly. He reaches for me and gently lifts my head and shoulders into his lap. I feel him stroke my hair, and the gesture brings more tears to my eyes. _

"_Who are you? Where am I?" I choke the words out. _

"_Shhhh. They must have strangled you." His voice cracks for a moment. "Those bastards… I've wanted this moment for a long time…. But not now, not this way…" He bends down and kisses the top of my head. "I'm so sorry Katara, it's okay, you can rest. You're safe with me now, I won't do anything to hurt you anymore." _

_I realize I don't hear Zuko anymore, wherever we are moving, we must have left him behind. _

"_Where's Zuko?" I mumble. _

_The man snickers, "My old friend Lee is getting what he deserves."_

"Zuko!" I shout.

I open my eyes and take in the room around me, it's dim, sunlight is beginning to stream in through a window to my left. I look down at my hands, I'm sitting in a bed, wearing strange brown clothes. I look to my right and I'm met with startling amber eyes, but they aren't Zuko's.

"What's wrong?" Ainslin says. "Who's Zuko?"

Reality crashes quickly around me, I drop my head in my hands and mentally curse myself for being so stupid to say Zuko's name out loud like that.

"It…It's nothing." I stammer. "I just had a bad dream."

It wasn't a dream; it was a memory. They're coming back to me, at least in pieces, but now I know the next person I have to find, right after Zuko.

"Zuko." Ainslin says, "That's not a very common name."

Damnit. I've really screwed up now.

"No, it's not. He was, uh a guy I knew a few years ago."

Ainslin looks at me, a strange expression on his face. "A boyfriend?"

I force a laugh, "Um, no. He might have been, maybe, if things were different."

Ainslin smiles at me. "Forbidden love? Firenation and Water Tribe?"

"Yeah," I say, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. "Something like that."

"That's funny," Ainslin says, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "I used to know a guy named Zuko, he was a prince though, I wonder if we knew the same guy?"

This is bad. This is very, very bad.

He walks over to the window and opens the curtain, sunlight spills into the room, it must be at least noon.

"Though, he would be the Firelord, now." He continues. "And if you knew the Firelord, then you wouldn't be here in this godforsaken place, would you?"

"Um, I don't really know where I am," I say honestly.

He turns to face me, crossing his arms over his broad chest, covering his strange tattoo. His hair is long, he must have had it tied up yesterday, its black and shiny, falling in tousled waves to his shoulders.

"Do you know your name?" He asks, his voice is serious.

I shake my head, "No."

"That's a lie."

"I really don't remember," I say, trying my best to feign innocence.

"Well, it's no matter," Ainslin says, he walks towards the end of the bed now, and props his arms on the edge, leaning in close to me. "A messenger came this morning, knocked on my door while we were still asleep, he sent a letter from my father saying that there was a Water Tribe girl wandering around, that I should be keeping a lookout for her."

"What a coincidence," I say. I'm busted.

"I know your name." He leans in closer to me now, our noses are inches from touching. "So, I'll give you the opportunity to tell me, one more time."

I cross my arms, my damsel in distress charade is over now, so I might as well give up trying to be cute. "No, I don't think I will," I say defiantly.

He raises his arms and crosses them back over his chest, standing again now. "That's okay, Katara. I already know plenty about you, I know what a powerful bender you are, and what a heroine you are considered to be."

"Well that seems very unfair," I say, my voice rising. "You know so much about me, but I know nothing about you!"

He chuckles, "I find that very hard to believe. You show up in the middle of the night, in my village, convince me to take you into my home, crawl into _my_ bed, and you have no idea who I am?"

"Excuse me?" I say, jumping off the bed and stomping up to him. How dare he accuse me of being some…Spy…. some seductress spy!

"I'll have you know that I have no idea where I am! And I have no idea who you are! And I did _NOT _crawl into your bed for any reason other than I was tired and I trusted you…"

He raises his eyebrows at this. "Well, I may have overestimated you then. But it does warm my heart knowing that you trust me."

"What is it with you Firenation men!" I shout, throwing my hands in the air. "You're all so impossible!"

"So, I was right then, Zuko is your boyfriend."

What is it with this guy? Is he trying to keep me hostage or date me? Is this some elaborate psychological game?

"No, he isn't my boyfriend! He's just my stupid friend who has gotten me into some crazy mess, and I'd really like to find him so I can kick his ass right about now."

Ainslin laughs, "So does that mean I have a shot?"

"What?" I deadpan.

"With you? Do I have a shot with you?"

I sit down on the edge of the bed and press my fingers into my temples, I have a throbbing headache and I have no idea what is going on with this guy right now.

"You'd have to get in line." I say dryly, "I'm pretty sure every guy I've encountered here wants to be my boyfriend, but at least you were the only one who's been gracious enough to ask so far."

Ainslin sits down beside me, his face is concerned. "Have they hurt you?" He asks softly.

I draw my knees up to my chest and rest my chin on them. "Yeah," I say, shrugging. "I guess, I don't really remember much."

Ainslin hops up from the bed and begins pacing back and forth. His face is red, I can tell he's angry, I could swear I saw smoke emit from his palms, but it may have been a trick of the light.

"My father is a fucking bastard." He says, gritting his teeth. "I hate him, and I hate his stupid ideas."

"Um," I begin, not sure what to say, this is an unexpected development. "Who is your father?" I ask.

Ainslin turns and kneels in front of me now at the edge of the bed, he places his hands on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. "You said you trusted me; can I trust you?" He asks earnestly.

I don't know what's happening, at this point I'm over trying to figure everything out, I don't know if I do or should trust Ainslin, but if he wants to do the right thing, and he's willing to help me, then he can count on me to have his back.

"Yes," I say. "You can."

"My father's name is Akio," He says, standing and pacing again. "He's a cruel man, and the only reason I work for him is because…Well, I don't know how I could defy him without being killed…But with you," He says, turning to me now, his face hopeful. "You could help me."

"Lord Akio! Is everything alright in there? We heard a crash?"

I look down at the man on the ground in front of me, "Do you like my scar?" I ask, "Because if you say a word, I'll give you one to match."

"Nnn..noo…" The man stammers, "Everything is just fine, I'm just working on my intimidation tactics."

"Okay, sir, just checking."

"Good job," I say. This man is a coward, a coward, and a tyrant, and if I could figure out how to get this stupid cuff from around my ankle, I would give him exactly what he deserves.

"Can you please release my hand?" Akio whimpers, "It's broken, I just know that it's broken."

"I'll release your hand when you give me the key."

"Yyyou know I can't do that."

I shrug, "Well, then I guess I can't release your hand."

"You worthless… worm…" He shouts.

I think he's running out of insults, at this point they are becoming more amusing than anything, I wonder how long it will take him to realize that I don't care what he calls me.

"I don't think your hand is broken yet," I say, applying more pressure to it, "But I don't think it will take that much more to get it there."

"No, stop, please." Akio sobs, "This is unnecessary."

"Apparently it's very necessary."

"Fine…Fine, I'll uncuff you…but you have to promise me you won't burn my face, I can't live my life looking ugly and disfigured like you."

That was a better insult, props for it being underhanded at least.

"Fine," I say.

He fumbles for his keys in his pocket, I think if I left him like this much longer, he might die of a heart attack, and that would be a very undeserving death. He finally gets the key free from his elaborate tunic pocket and unlocks the cuff, it slides off my ankle, sweet freedom.

"Okay, Okay…" He says looking up at me. "I released you, now step off my hand, you vermin."

"A deal is a deal." I lift my foot off his hand, and then stomp it back down, causing his hand to twist into the floor with a sickening crunch. Akio screams in agony, and I take the opportunity to pull him up by the collar of his tunic. "Now it's broken," I say, holding the palm of my hand up to his face, the fire dangerously close to burning his beard.

"Please, you said you wouldn't burn me," He cries.

"And I am a man of my word, I didn't burn you for un-cuffing my ankle, now I won't burn you if you tell your men to stand down."

"No. I can't." He says, defiance has replaced the fear in his voice, and I believe him, he won't tell his men to stand down, he's not going to let me walk freely out of this room.

"Fine," I say, dropping him to the floor. "I guess I'll have to find a new tactic."

I grab the cuff, and clasp it around his ankle, snatching the keys from his hand before he can stuff them back in his pocket.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He demands.

I take off my new tunic and tear it in half, I use one half to tie his hands behind his back and the other half I stuff in his mouth, tying it around his head.

"I'm buying myself some time," I say as I scan the room. There's a window on the far left wall, I'm not sure how many stories we are up, but I know it's high. If I can break the window, I should be able to scale down to the bottom. As long as I don't get spotted, I should be okay. My leg is doing better, but I still can't run on it. I pick up the chair I was sitting in and use the legs to break the window. I break one of the legs off the chair and try to smooth out all the shards of glass. Then I turn back to Akio, who's desperately trying to yell for help.

"This is far from over," I say, looking down at the man on the floor at my feet. "But I think it's time for you to take a little nap." I bring the chair leg down over his head, knocking him unconscious.

As much as I would love to take him hostage or kill him, I'm not in the position to do either of those things right now. My number one priority is getting out of this building and finding Katara.

Surprisingly, there were no guards outside the building, and it was easy enough to scale. I thought it was a prison, but it appears it must be some type of watchtower or maybe an intelligence hub, fortunately, I haven't encountered another person yet. I look up at the sun, its late afternoon, and I know the valley was to the West, so I might as well follow the sun for now. I know that it's a far cry to think that Katara has regained her memory and made it back to the valley, but it's the only plan I have right now. I just have to make it back through the West Wing without encountering any of those damned soldiers.

Ainslin hasn't let me out of the house all day, and I'm about to water-whip him across the face if he doesn't shut up. He's been pacing back and forth for the last 30 minutes, trying to devise a plot to overthrow his father, and he's not getting far with his ideas. But at least he made me more noodles with beef, and they are delicious, he's a surprisingly good cook.

Sokka would love these noodles. It hits me that I have no idea how long I've been gone, and none of our friends know where we are, they must be so worried.

"You know," I say, interrupting Ainslin's plan. "Zuko knows better than anyone how to overthrow fathers, if you could help me find him, I'm sure you two could brainstorm a wonderful idea."

"Zuko would not help me overthrow my father, he'd just burn me with him." He replies bitterly.

I shrug, setting my bowl on the table. "Zuko's a surprisingly understanding person," I say. "I'm sure that he would help you, we both will, but we have to have a good plan of action. And in order for me to help you, you have to tell me where I am."

Ainslin sighs and sits down in the chair beside me. "Genesis." He says. "You're in Genesis."

_I'm sitting on the front steps of an Inn, Zuko is sitting across from me, I hold my hand up in front of my eyes to block the sun, and Zuko hands me a scroll _

"_We have to do something about this," he says. "This is the reason behind all the disappearances." _

_There is a strange insignia at the top of the scroll, I've never seen it before, a serpent wrapping around a globe, and inside the globe is a combination of all the element symbols morphed into one. _

"_Who are they?" I ask, looking to Zuko. _

_He shakes his head solemnly. "They call themselves Genesis, and we have to stop them, I've got a plan, but you can't tell anyone about it, we have to take care of this quietly." _

"The scroll!" I shout, standing up from my chair! "That's why I'm here, the scroll that Zuko showed me!"

I look at Ainslin, a surprised look crosses his face, "What scroll?" He asks.

"Who lives in this village?" I demand.

"Um, people…"

"No!" I shout, backing away from Ainslin, I feel the heat rising to my face, it's all coming back to me now. "What kind of people, where did they come from?"

He stands now and reaches for me, but I slap his hands away. "Calm down, Katara. I can explain."

"No! I don't want you to explain anything, I want you to tell me where all these people came from!"

"See, this is why I couldn't take you to Zuko! I knew you'd react like this!"

He reaches for me and grasps me around the waist, I pull water from a vase of flowers and splash him across the face, I attempt to freeze it around him, but he diffuses it with a swift fire-blast.

"So, you are a firebender!" I say, backing towards the door. I don't want to hurt Ainslin, he's the only person who has been kind to me since I've been here, and if he's telling the truth about hating his father, he can be a powerful ally. But the dynamic of power needs to shift, he has to take me to Zuko.

"Yes, I'm a firebender, and I don't want to fight you!" He chuckles then, "Knowing now who you are, I have a feeling if I did, I wouldn't win. So, we'll make a deal, I'll take you to Zuko, but you must promise that you two will help me take down my father, and you won't turn on me."

It's definitely not a solid deal, but it's all I have right now, and now that my memories are coming back, I'm desperate to find Zuko. There's some really bad stuff going on here, and we have to put an end to it.

"Okay," I say, extending my hand towards Ainslin, "You have a deal."

He takes my hand in his and shakes it softly. "Thank you, Katara." He says, "You can count on me."

We left that night, in the cover of darkness. We packed a map, some food, camp supplies, and weapons in two backpacks. Ainslin gave me a pair of tight training pants, though they weren't that tight on me and a long-sleeved tunic. His clothes are soft, and they smell like him, it's a nice warm smell, but I don't know how I feel about it. He also gave me a pair of his old training boots he wore as an adolescent, and they fit me surprisingly well. He must have had a growth spurt because I can't imagine the tall, broad man standing in front of me now once wore shoes this small. We've been walking for hours, we crossed back over the Valley and now we're somewhere between the West Wing wall and the tower where Zuko is supposed to be.

"Shhh!" Ainslin says, reaching his arm behind him signaling for me to stop walking. "Someone is up ahead," He says crouching down. I crouch beside him and squint in the darkness, there is no moon or stars out tonight, and we've been trying to make our way through the woods as stealthily as possible, only using Ainslin's firebending when absolutely necessary.

"Wait," I whisper to Ainslin, as the figure before me comes into view. "That's Zuko!"

He must have heard be me whisper, because Zuko takes a firebending stance, on guard, but not revealing himself.

"Zuko!" I shout.

"Shhh…" Ainslin says. "We don't know if he's alone."

I look at him incredulously, "Of course he's alone. Besides, if he wasn't, I'm pretty sure we could take them, we were gonna bust him out anyway."

"No. I was gonna go to my father and have Zuko transported out of the tower to the village, we weren't gonna go in there fire-blazing and water-blasting everyone."

"I would have, if that's what it took," I say. "But now it looks like I don't have too."

"Katara?" Zuko says.

"Zuko!" I shout again, standing up and running towards him.

"Katara!" Zuko says, he runs towards me and grabs me in his arms, lifting me off the ground momentarily. I'm a bit surprised, but it feels good being in his familiar embrace. He smells like burning cinders and spice, despite his rough appearance. I would much rather smell like Zuko, than Ainslin.

"I missed you, too," I say, chuckling as Zuko releases me and holds me by the shoulders, an arm's length away from him.

"I was worried about you." He says, his eyes meeting mine. The fire has returned to his eyes, and for the first time I am filled with a renewed hope, no one in this godforsaken place can take on the two of us and win.

"Your leg is doing better," I say, absentmindedly reaching out and placing my hand on his thigh.

"Yeah, thanks to you." He frowns then, and holds up a palm of fire, looking at my body, "Who's clothes are these?" He asks.

"Those would be mine," Ainslin says, stepping out of the brush. "Hello, Zuko."

**A/N: Okay, that was a bit long, but I wanted to get Zuko and Katara back together. I'm naming this chapter Reunion in honor of the Zutara Week theme, even though it is a little late, this is my contribution (haha). Anyway, let me know what you guys think about the POV's switching between Zuko and Katara, do you like that, or would you prefer it being in 3****rd**** person? As always, any feedback is appreciated! **


	8. A Stalemate

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long! This chapter is a little shorter, and not my favorite, but at least we're moving along. I wrote half of this chapter about a month ago and got stuck and finally came back and finished it. But here we are, a little more zutara-esque, but we still have ways to go. Let me know what you think, I'll try to update quicker! **

Zuko turns to me, "Why are you with him?" He demands.

Here we go.

I place my hand against Zuko's chest, trying to calm him, apparently much to Ainslin's irritation, he doesn't even attempt to hide his scowl.

"He's helping me, Zuko." I say, attempting to de-escalate the situation. "We were on our way to break you out of the tower."

"I don't believe that for a second." Zuko growls, "He was probably just leading you there so that they could trap you with me."

I hadn't thought of that. What is wrong with my brain lately? Zuko makes a good point, I haven't really questioned Ainslin as much as I should.

"Is that true?" I say, turning to Ainslin. "We're you just tricking me so you could lock me back up?"

A hurt expression crosses his face, and I immediately feel bad for questioning him, he truly has done nothing but help me since I met him.

"Katara, no…" Ainslin says, stepping towards me, he reaches his hands out in an attempt to grab my own. "You know I wouldn't do that to you…You know how I feel about you."

"Back up!" Zuko warns, holding his hand up to keep Ainslin at a distance, he moves in front of me, placing himself between me and the other firebender.

"I don't know how you think you feel about Katara." He begins. "But you don't get to talk to her like that, or continue whatever kind of manipulation you having going here. She has experienced severe head trauma at the hands of your father and his cronies, and she's not in the right headspace to be trusting strangers right now, on top of that, she has no clue who you actually are, but I do." Zuko pauses, a look of disgust crossing his face. "I know exactly who you are, so you better keep your hands away from Katara, or I'll rip them off."

"Zuko, it's fine." I say, "He's been taking care of me, and my memory is getting better, you don't have to protect me, I can make my own decisions."

"Taking care you how?" Zuko demands, clearly ignoring the rest of my sentence.

"By providing her with some clean and halfway decent clothing to wear, for starters." Ainslin says dryly, "Which was more than you could have provided, I didn't see her wearing your shirt, unless you just liked gawking at her breasts, which wouldn't surprise…"

Ainslin doesn't finish his sentence before Zuko's fist connects with his jaw, sending him down to the ground with a thud.

"I'm so fucking tired of hearing you sick bastards talk about Katara!" Zuko shouts. "I swear to Agni, if I hear one more man make a lewd comment about her I will end his life on the spot!"

I instinctively cross my arms over my chest, I know that I'm covered now, but up until this point I've been mostly preoccupied with survival and modesty wasn't as pressing of a concern, but thinking back over the last couple days, I feel a wave of nausea remembering all the men who have seen and touched my body - without my consent. Even Zuko has seen my breasts on more than a couple occasions at the this point, and it's not so much concerning, but I still don't know how to feel about it. .

"You know," Ainslin say, sitting up and rubbing his jaw. "I didn't realize you were such a jealous type, I would have played this a little differently had I known you were so possessive of Katara."

Zuko's strong, I've seen his strength – marveled at his strength on so many occasions, seen him take down men twice his size. Even the guards here, with two and three holding him at once, have struggled to keep him down. But for some reason, the thought of him fighting Ainslin makes me nervous, Ainslin is big, and he took a punch from Zuko much better than anyone else I've seen.

"You don't want to do this, Ainslin." Zuko says, his voice low and warning. "You don't want to fight me."

Ainslin stands and faces Zuko, his jaw already turning blue. "You're right, I don't want to fight you, but I will fight you if it comes to that." Ainslin looks at me then, an unreadable expression on his face. "Katara, isn't yours. She's her own person, and she's decided to put her trust in me, and I will do everything in my power to live up to that trust. And I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable knowing that she has slept in my bed, and wears my clothes, and that I was the one to take care of her when you couldn't, but that's just reality."

Oh no.

Zuko lunges then, knocking Ainslin backwards, and they both tumble over the trunk of a fallen tree, disappearing into the brush and darkness with loud grunts.

"She's not your girlfriend!" Ainslin's shouts, popping out of the brush, sending a fireball in what I'm assuming is Zuko's direction.

Zuko emerges, deflecting the fire and sending out a blast of his own. "She's not yours either!"

"Not yet, but you don't get to make that decision!"

Oh my Agni, they are idiots. Truly.

I sigh and pull the water out of the fallen tree in front of me, causing it to burst and splinter with a startling crack, then without hesitation, I crash the water into the two men in front of me, knocking them from their feet, dousing their fires, and leaving them drenched and on their butts on the forest floor.

"Listen here, assholes!" I shout, staring down at the two sets of bewildered amber eyes in front of me. "I'm not dating either of you, and at this moment in time I'm glad I'm not, because you're acting like a couple of ten years olds instead of grown men. I don't know what the history is between the two of you, and I don't want to know! It has nothing to do with me, so leave me out of it! Right now we need to focus on taking down Ainslin's father and getting the hell out of this godforsaken place!"

"You're right." Ainslin says, standing and attempting to slush the water from his clothes, quite unsuccessfully. "I was acting completely dishonorable, I apologize. I hope we can start over."

"Yeah, yeah." I say, not particularly interested in what either of them have to say. "We need a new game plan."

"I guess we can head back to my station…" Ainslin begins.

"No." Zuko cuts him off, "We'll stay here and make a camp for the night. We're not putting anymore distance between us and your father."

We made camp about 300 feet from the puddle that I left on the ground, Zuko started a fire, caught some rabbits, skinned and gutted them, and I've been cooking them while Ainslin forages around for branches long enough to make a shelter from.

"We don't need a shelter." Zuko groans for the third time, we can just sleep on the ground, daylight isn't that far away."

"What if it rains?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm still fucking drenched from Katara." Zuko says bitterly, "I don't think a little rain is gonna make that much of a difference."

"You deserved it," I say to Zuko, low enough that Ainslin can't hear.

"I know I did, I'm sorry." He responds.

"Well, when Katara and I are sleeping cozily in the shelter I build for us, you aren't allowed in" Ainslin shouts, attempting to kick over a young tree.

I roll my eyes and give Zuko a withering look, he chuckles at this. "I know that you can make your own decisions, I'm sorry for not giving you enough credit." He says, scratching the back of his head, "I really was acting like a jealous asshole."

"You were." I say, "But I know you meant well, and I appreciate you trying to protect my honor." The last part comes out in a giggle.

"Hey, that's a cruel joke." Zuko responds, then cracks a smile of his own. "I would have given you my shirt, if I had one, you know."

"I know you would have."

"It wasn't cause I wanted to look at your breasts…Well not that I…didn't…but, you know what I mean…" Zuko drops his face into his hands, but not before I catch a glimpse of the deep blush rising in his cheeks.

"I know, Zuko." I say, and then. "You're the only one that I didn't mind seeing them."

I don't know why I said that… But I suppose it's true.

Zuko's head pops up from his hands, and his eyes widen – his classic look of surprise. He opens his mouth to respond, but is interrupted by Ainslin

"Seeing what?" The firebender asks, walking into the light of the campfire, a dozen branches of varying sizes stacked in his arms.

"Oh nothing." I respond nonchalantly. "Dinner is ready."

To Ainslin's credit, he got a decent little shelter built, though it was drastically lopsided. And much to his dismay, I decided to sleep under the stars beside Zuko, instead.

"We used to sleep like this all the time." Zuko had said, lying down on his side, facing me, his head not a foot away from mine. "You know, back when we saved the world."

Ainslin had mumbled something about a pretentious jerk, but if Zuko heard him, he chose to ignore it.

I bent the remaining water from Zuko's hair and pants before we fell asleep, putting a finger to my lips, signaling to not tell Ainslin. Zuko just grinned and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Morning came quickly, and with it a renewed sense of dread. We needed to make a plan now, a real one, and I needed Zuko and Ainslin to work together long enough to execute it efficiently.

I should have known that it would be too much to ask for. We spent hours pouring over ideas, Zuko would never agree to any of Ainslin's plans, always finding an excuse to call it a trap. And Ainslin wouldn't agree to Zuko's, just because it was Zuko's, and any plan I came up with was out of the question, because I have head trauma and can't be counted on, apparently.

I'm beginning to think they're gaslighting me just so one of them can be in charge.

"Okay," I say standing up, and brushing off my pants. Zuko had drawn a solid, detailed map in the dirt of the known layout of this, apparent fortress that we are trapped in, and the boys are currently grumbling over what direction we need to head."I've seen all I need to see," I continue, heading towards the direction Zuko had come the night before. "I'm going to the tower."

"Wait!" Zuko says, jumping to his feet – though still favoring his unhurt leg, I notice. "You can't just go alone? We have to have a plan."

I look up at him, my frustration growing with each passing moment.

"I agree, we need a plan, but apparently you two are either to stubborn or stupid or both to come up with one! And anything I say is immediately shot down, so why would I sit around and waste daylight waiting on you two to come up with something, when I can just go and take this man down myself."

I was bluffing, of course. I had no idea what this guy looked like, or where to find him, and not that I couldn't take him down, I was just throughly unprepared to do so. But we needed to get out of this place, and I knew that they wouldn't let me go alone.

"Okay, okay." Ainslin says, standing now as well. "Let's not be hasty, you can't go alone, but I can get you inside."

"No." Zuko cuts in, "She's not going anywhere with you."

"Ughh!" I shout, throwing my hands in the air and stomping away from them. "This is hopeless!"

I occurs to me, not without irritation, that I still don't know where the hell I am. This is getting ridiculous.

"We'll all go," Zuko says, catching up to me and walking beside me.

"And we'll just figure it out along the way." Ainslin continues, appearing on my other side.

"Good." I say, "At least we can all agree to that."


End file.
